The present invention relates to a steering unit, in particular for utility vehicles, and to a chassis system for utility vehicles, and to a production method for producing a support unit.
Steering units are well known from the prior art and are particularly preferably used together with chassis with air suspension in utility vehicles. Here, a so-called longitudinal link, or a steering unit, serves for the sprung mounting of a suspension region for the wheels of the utility vehicle. For this purpose, the steering unit is normally suspended pivotably on the frame of the vehicle, for example on a bearing block, and has a bearing region for the fixing of a spring unit, for example an air spring. Here, the problem has arisen that, owing to different track widths, different frame geometries on different utility vehicle types and a multiplicity of possible air suspension geometries, a broad spectrum of geometries of steering units is required. To satisfy these requirements, it has hitherto been necessary to provide an almost unmanageable number of geometries for steering units. It has hitherto been attempted to counteract this problem by providing a multiplicity of fastening points in the air spring fastening region of the steering unit, of which in each case only one is then used for the fastening of the spring unit. Such steering units can be used in a certain number of chassis geometries. At the same time, this configuration however also results in overdimensioning of the steering unit, which has an adverse effect on the weight and the structural space requirement of the steering unit. There therefore remains a considerable demand for improving the versatility of steering units and for reducing the production costs through standardization of individual structural units, and for reducing the weight and the structural space required by the steering unit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a steering unit which is versatile and which avoids overdimensioning of the weight and of the required structural space. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chassis system which, while avoiding the disadvantages of the prior art as mentioned in the introduction, is simple and inexpensive to produce. It is also an object of the present invention to specify a production method with which steering units can be produced in a simple manner.